OBAMA RECRUITS NETANYAHU TO HIS "TEAM OF RIVALS"

Guess what - Barack and Bibi are kissing buddies. This time the dynamic has changed Obama is calling the shots. True to Obama style Netanyahu has been invited to join Obama’s “Team of Rivals”.  (For the uninitiated Obama has followed Lincoln’s example of bringing into his inner circle former rivals). So forgiven is Bibi for his attempt to undermine Barack in his own backyard by trying to recruit Congress in his battle against the US President. (Blog: Obama, Reagan, Clinton, Netanyahu and the Week That Was, January 2013).

NETANYAHU’s AND OBAMA’s STANDING IN ISRAEL

It serves no purpose for a weakened Netanyahu to grandstand in the US when he is now battling to maintain control of his fragile coalition. Obama had defended Israel’s attack on Hamas at UNO. Also every Israeli was aware that America had footed the bills for the highly successful Dome that intercepted Hamas missiles. (Blog: Iran Behind Israeli Conflict In Israel? November, 2012). Obama’s approval rating in Israel is higher than Bibi’s so, ironically, any help Netanyahu can get from Obama to bolster his image is deeply appreciated.  Also the popular Israeli President Simon Peres and Obama have always been on the same page.

 A strengthened Obama, for his part, happily welcomed the opportunity to reaffirm his support for Israel. AIPAC, the American pro Israeli Lobby group has never had any doubt as to where Obama’s loyalties lay. But Netanyahu appealing to the American right wing over the head of mainstream Jewish opinion had created a talking point for the right wing, that Obama was soft on Israel. This Netanyahu had done in order to get Obama in line with a preemptive attack on Iran. An attack that Obama politically believed was premature and unwise at that point in time.

SO OBAMA GOES TO ISRAEL

So with as a background Obama set of to Israel as his first foreign policy initiative in his second term. This gesture dripped with all the symbolism that results from the uncommon occurrence of a sitting American President visiting Israel signifies. In Israel he made it quite clear: - that Israel’s number one ally was America, that America had Israel’s back, that America shared Israel’s fears on the Syrian uprising getting out of control and giving Hezbollah chemical weapons – that was a red line in the sand, that there was no daylight between Israeli and American policy on Iran’s nuclear aspirations – another red line in the sand and that Israel could start negotiating American arms for Israel prior to the agreement that runs out in 2017.

Obama on landing in Israel was met by anybody who was everybody in Israel. On the tarmac Obama was flanked by Netanyahu and Peres whom were part of a massive crowd. His microphone was on when he asided to a chuckling Netanyahu, “It is good to get away from Congress”.

Obama did not venture into the Middle East by himself. There was a whole entourage including his Secretary of State and his entourage. Every move that Obama made would be followed up in spades by John Kerry. There is also little doubt that that Kerry would inherit all the goodwill that Hillary Clinton bequeathed to him in her tireless background efforts in this region.

OBAMA GOES TO THE WEST BANK AND RETURNS WITH A MESSAGE OF SANITY

Obama also visited two other Middle East entities– the Kingdom of Jordan and the West Bank headed by PLO Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has gained status by negotiating Nation and Observer recognition at UNO. (Blog; Netanyahu Has Lost It, December 2012).

Obama, after returning from Ramallah reaffirmed his belief that that there should be a two State solution. In a keynote speech he asked the Israelis to empathize with the Palestinians who he, Obama, believed had been treated unfairly. He maintained that they too were entitled to a State. He once again verbalized his opposition to new Israeli settlements. He spoke to the youth and asked them to put themselves in shoes of Palestinians and told them, what he has said in the USA – change must come from the grass roots. This was Obama at his heroic historic best and the tumultuous reception he received for these views reflected the opinions of the majority of Israelis on the subject as was manifested in the most recent Israeli election.

Abbas is on record as saying that the Palestinians should have accepted the UNO Security Council resolution for partition in 1947. Instead they, joined by the whole Arab world, unsuccessfully attacked the rag tag Israeli army who did not have a friend in the world. This they did not in spite of Ben Gurion’s pleas to accept the two state solution and so here we are now.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

It serves little purpose to go over all the other wars and betrayals that both sides claim and rather look at the status quo:

• The average Palestinian still lives in poverty, squalor and fear.
• Israel persists in allowing settlements to infringe what is generally accepted would be Palestinian territory.
• Palestine is divided into two – The Hamas controlled Gaza and the PLO controlled West Bank.
• Eighteen of the 22 members of the Arab League do not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
• There is the presence of two designated terrorist organizations in the area, Hezbollah and Hamas. Both the latter are under Iranian influence.
• Iran’s unashamed threat to wipe Israel of the face of the earth coupled with its potential nuclear ambitions stands out there for all to see. ((Blog: Iran Behind Israeli Conflict, November 2012)
• A changed Israel where Netanyahu’s grip on power must be tenuous.
• Netanyahu and Obama have a changed relationship. If nothing else they both need each other.
• Netanyahu has a far more dovish cabinet not to mention electorate and if history is anything to go by most peace accords in this area have come from Right Wing Prime Ministers.
• All this is taking place in a climate where anti Semitism is increasing at an alarming pace throughout the world.

WHAT HAS THIS TRIP ESTABLISHED AND ACHIEVED?

Obama has waded into the Middle – East quagmire boots and all. You cannot get this involved and walk away from the expectations that you have created. Obama’s actions are in line with his modus vivendi. Obama makes his moves from a political position of strength and when public sentiment is ready for change. The reception he received from an audience that was said to have been potentially hostile to his views illustrated in, no uncertain terms, that Israelis are receptive to peace.

Also there is no way he could duck the regional powder keg situation forever. The intransigent Iran is on a one-way path to nuclear confrontation. He and Netanyahu have to be ad idem on their approach. The changing political situation has allowed Obama to be the senior partner. If Netanyahu can run in American politics Obama can run in Israeli politics as he has shown. The Syrian situation is going from bad to worse and who knows how the cookie is going to crumble there.

So Obama has two agendas one is to take control of the potential chaos that is brewing up in the Middle East and not march to Bibi’s drummer. The second is to tackle an elusive Middle East solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Ironically, the latter is a far tougher nut than to sort out a road map to the Iranian and Syrian variables. If Obama is able to achieve this then not only will it justify his premature award of the Nobel Peace Prize it will do Israel an incredible favor. It will take away one of the biggest sticks it is being beaten with. Bibi could also end up with a Peace prize!

But a two State solution has a long long way to go. The Palestinians are not even united. However, Obama has to give it a full go. He is committed and will have to provide resources as well as some of his own valuable time.  He is also totally committed to Israel for a host of reasons: It is his most reliable ally in the Middle East as a beacon of stability in a sea of chaos; politically it would be untenable in the US not to be totally committed; (this visit has given the Democrats a leg up in the 2014 election and taken away any credible criticism the right wing might have that Obama is throwing Israel under the bus), and as, anyone who is close to him knows, he is personally committed to the State of Israel and all it stands for. Obama, in Israel, compared, as Martin Luther King had done before him, the exodus of the Jews from slavery with the emancipation of the Negroes from slavery in the United States.

Obama's last port of call will be to Amman where he will shore up his initiatives with the expected support from King Abdullah from Jordan. Obviously Syria and Iran will also be on the agenda.

FOX AND FRIENDS – THE SAME OLD SAME OLD

It is worthwhile to note that Fox news concurrently with The Obama Israeli visit was still running features with the theme of, “With friends like Obama Israel does not need enemies”. This in the teeth of the standing ovation Obama received when he reaffirmed his commitment to Israel and asked the Israelis to empathize with the Palestinians. That very night Obama received, from President Peres, the highest honor the Israeli government can give any citizen - the Presidential Medal of Distinction. He is the first American President to receive this award. President Peres then said President Obama had done more for Israeli security then any other individual in history.

Jay H. Ell is personally sick and tired of the smears Obama has had to endure on the internet, from right wing talk show and TV hosts and other fanatics, in and out of the political limelight, that Obama is an imposter about to sell out America and Israel to the radical Muslim extremists. It would be too much to hope for that his historic trip to Israel would change their behavior.

Also with his usual largesse he did not rub Netanyahu’s “nose in it” and he welcomed him into his “Team of Rivals”. Netanyahu having in addition to trying to outmaneuver Obama in the USA had openly backed Romney against him in the last Presidential election.